Religious education and the teaching about religions

english

2012

volume 23, issue 1/2

religious education    teaching about religions   ethics    public schools    education 

Slovensko društvo raziskovalcev šolskega polja
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

The concept and term "religious education" are usually understood in two different ways: fi rstly, as a "denominational religious education", which is also called "confessional religious education" or "confessional religious instruction" and, secondly, as a "nondenominational or non-confessional religious education". In strictly secular countries, where confessional religious education (which main aim is to produce religious commitment to one particular faith) is legally forbidden in public schools (as, for example, in France, Slovenia and in the USA), only teaching about religions - which is a form of non-confessional religious education - is possible. Teaching about religions can be taught as a specific school subject or as an integral part of other regular subjects such as history, ethics, philosophy, arts, civic education, etc. The integration of content about religions in these regular school subjects is more or less present in all countries, while teaching about religions as a particular subject exists only in some countries. One of them is Slovenia, where the subject is called "Religions and Ethics". Its main aims are to give students an opportunity to further expand and develop their basic knowledge of the world religions and ethics, which they obtain in other school subjects and in this way to help them understand the importance and meaning of religious and ethical issues; to stimulate and prepare them for tolerant and respectful discussion of religious and ethical questions; to develop the capacity to understand others in their otherness; to prepare students for a life in a pluralistic society; to be critical of the negative phenomena which may be rooted in religions; and to help them develop their own religious or nonreligious philosophy of life. Since the aim of teaching about religions is not to produce religious commitment to one particular faith and also because it respects the rights of parents, children and teachers to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, it seems that teaching about religions can be acceptable for everyone regardless of their religious or philosophical convictions and it can be applicable to different national school systems and traditions.

18.03.2014